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Family and
Consumer Sciences
An Integrative Discipline
Information gathered by Lucy Campanis
Revised by Mikki Meadows
EIU School of Family & Consumer Sciences
From its beginning, family
and consumer sciences has
been an integrated
discipline.
What does this mean?
Integrate
• From Webster, ‘integrate’ means “to
form into a whole; to bring together”
Historical Perspective
• In the early years of the field, a number
of disciplines were identified as having
implications for improving the home and
the quality of life for families.
– Philosophy
– Economics
– Biology
– Sociology
– Anthropology
– Chemistry
• Various other disciplines were incorporated
over the years
• Each of these disciplines provided
concepts, knowledge and practices which
were brought together
(integrated) with the
focus on the family
Changes
• As the field developed, its body of
knowledge became organized into five basic
areas:
– Child and Human Development
– Foods and Nutrition
– Family Management and Consumer Economics
– Housing and Home Furnishings
– Clothing and Textiles
Integrative Elements
• The Family Ecosystem
– Brofenbrenner
– family members
– their environments
– networks of human interactions
• Life Course Development
– social norms, for achievement, development,
and productive behavior as individuals and
families move through time
(Anderson & Nickols, 2001)
Implications for FCS Careers
• Careers in FCS are often specializations
within the field. Integration of basic
areas of the discipline provide a fuller
opportunity to serve families and
consumers.